Musical contents storage system having server computer and electronic musical devices

ABSTRACT

A musical contents system comprises a contents providing server comprising a connecting unit that connects to a communication network, and a contents storage unit that stores musical contents in a storage area corresponding to a user of an electronic musical device; and an electronic musical device comprising a connecting unit that connects to the contents providing server via the communication network, an accessing unit that accesses to the contents storage unit via the communication network, and a contents operating unit that performs an operation to the musical contents stored in the contents storage area corresponding to the user. The musical contents purchased or created by the user can be stored in a data center; therefore, convenience of using the musical contents is improved and the cost is decreased or cut off.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/243,571,filed on Sep. 13, 2002, which is based on Japanese Patent Application2001-288703, filed on Sep. 21, 2001, the entire contents of both whichare incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A) Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a musical contents storage system wherein aserver computer connected to a plurality of electronic musical devicesvia a communication network and having a function to store musicalinformation of each electronic musical device.

B) Description of the Related Art

Musical information used and produced at an electronic musical devicesuch as an electronic musical instrument, a personal computer having atone generating function, a mobile information terminal and acommunication karaoke device or the like is stored in a storage mediumsuch as a hard disk and a memory device which are equipped in the deviceitself or a flexible disk and a CD-R or the like which are attached tothe devices by a user of the electronic musical device. Also, a casethat ready-made musical information is purchased in the form of theflexible disk and the CD or the like and used in the electronic musicaldevice is common.

In the case of using the hard disk, the musical information needs to becontrolled by the user constantly. And in the case of the storage mediumsuch as the flexible disk and the CD-R, an extreme effort is required tosort out a multiplicity of musical information and to access to thedesired musical information. Also, stored or purchased musical noteinformation might be lost by a break down of the memory device storingthe musical information itself. Therefore, a high cost for maintaining,obtaining and purchasing the necessary musical information to theelectronic musical device is unavoidable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a musical contentstorage system that can store musical contents purchased or created by auser in a data center instead of in the user side to improve theconvenience at the time of using the musical contents, and can achievedecrease and cut back of the cost.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided anelectronic musical device, comprising: a connecting unit that connectswith a contents providing server having a storage area corresponding toa user of the electronic musical device and storing musical contents viaa communication network; a temporally storage unit that temporallystores the musical contents received from the contents providing servervia the communication network in accordance with a contents transmittingrequest to the contents providing sever; a contents operating unit thatperforms an operation to the musical contents stored in the temporallystorage unit; and a deleting unit that compulsory deletes the musicalcontents from the temporally storage unit in accordance with atermination of the contents operation.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic musical device, comprising: a connecting unit thatconnects with a contents providing server having a storage areacorresponding to a user of the electronic musical device and storingmusical contents via a communication network; a transmitting unit thattransmits an identifier of the electronic musical device or a user tothe contents providing server in accordance with turning on of theelectronic musical device; a receiving unit that receives display datarelating to the storage area corresponding to the user and transmittedfrom the contents providing server in accordance with the transmittedidentifier; a displaying unit that displays a screen relating to thestorage area in accordance with the received display data; and anoperating unit that performs an operation to the storage area based onthe screen.

According to further aspect of the present invention, there is provideda musical contents providing server, comprising: a connecting unit thatconnects with an electronic music device via a communication network; acontents storage unit that has a first storage area storing a pluralityof musical contents and a second storage area corresponding to a user ofthe electronic musical device; a purchase receipting unit that receipts,from the electronic musical device, a purchase instruction of themusical contents in accordance with an operation of copying the musicalcontents from the first storage area to the second storage area; and acharging unit that charges to the user based on the musical contentsinstructed to be purchased.

According to further aspect of the present invention, there is provideda musical contents providing server, comprising: a connecting unit thatconnects with an electronic music device via a communication network; acontents storage unit that stores a plurality of musical contents; and atransmitting unit that transmits display data relating to musicalcontents appropriate for the electronic musical device accessing to themusical content providing server to the accessing electronic musicdevice via the communication network, the musical contents beingextracted from the plurality of the musical contents stored in thecontents storage unit.

According to further aspect of the present invention, there is provideda musical contents providing server, comprising: a connecting unit thatconnects with an electronic music device via a communication network; acontents storage unit that stores musical contents that can be operatedfrom the electronic musical device in a storage area corresponding to auser of the electronic musical device; a charging unit that charges onstoring newly purchased musical contents into the storage area; and adiscounting unit that discounts a server usage fee based on the chargecharged by the charging unit.

According to further aspect of the present invention, there is provideda musical contents providing server, comprising: a connecting unit thatconnects with an electronic music device via a communication network; acontents storage unit that stores musical contents that can be operatedfrom the electronic musical device in a storage area corresponding to auser of the electronic musical device; a detecting unit that detects anamount of the musical contents stored in the storage area; and adetermining unit that determines a server usage fee based on thedetected amount of the musical contents.

According to further aspect of the present invention, there is provideda musical contents providing server, comprising: a connecting unit thatconnects with an electronic music device via a communication network; acontents storage unit that stores a plurality of musical contents; acontents extracting unit that extracts musical contents from thecontents storage unit in accordance with a search condition instructedby the electronic musical device; and a transmitting unit that transmitsdisplay data for the extracted musical contents to the electronicmusical contents via the communication network.

According to yet further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a musical contents system, comprising: a contents providingserver comprising a connecting unit that connects to a communicationnetwork, and a contents storage unit that stores musical contents in astorage area corresponding to a user of an electronic musical device;and an electronic musical device comprising a connecting unit thatconnects to the contents providing server via the communication network,an accessing unit that accesses to the contents storage unit via thecommunication network, and a contents operating unit that performs anoperation to the musical contents stored in the contents storage areacorresponding to the user.

According to yet further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a musical contents system, comprising: a contents providingserver comprising a connecting unit that connects to a communicationnetwork, and a contents storage unit that stores musical contents in astorage area corresponding to a group consisted of users of a pluralityof electronic musical devices; and a plurality of electronic musicaldevices, each electronic musical device comprising a connecting unitthat connects to the contents providing server via the communicationnetwork, an accessing unit that accesses to the contents storage unitvia the communication network, and a contents operating unit thatperforms an operation to the musical contents stored in the contentsstorage area corresponding to a group to which a user belongs.

According to the present invention, musical contents is stored in astorage area (“my document” and “shared” folders) corresponding to auser and provided in a contents providing server, and the musicalcontents is manipulated from a side of an electronic musical device suchas a music specified device like an electronic musical instrument, amobile information terminal and a personal computer through acommunication network such as the Internet. Therefore, the user canaccess to the musical contents anytime for a desired amount. Also, whenthe mobile electronic musical device such as the mobile informationterminal is used, the musical contents are taken from everywhere.

Also when the musical contents are edited or newly created on theelectronic musical device side, the edited or created musical contentsare sent to the contents providing server and are stored in the storagearea corresponding to the user on the server side. Therefore, themusical contents edited or created on the electronic musical device sideare stored in a large capacity contents storage device on the serverside instead of being stored on the user side, and more conveniencereusability and cost cut-back can be achieved. Further, because thecontents providing server permits an access to the capacity contentsstorage by confirming a user identifier sent from the electronic musicaldevice, the security of the musical contents stored in the contentsstorage device can be obtained.

According to the present invention, by accessing to the storage devicesin the contents providing server from the electronic musical device, themusical contents stored in the storage area (“shared” folder)corresponding to a group to which users of the electronic musicaldevices belong can be read and manipulated cooperatively. Therefore, theplurality of users sharing the storage area can coauthor the musicalcontents.

According to the present invention, when the electronic musical deviceaccesses the contents storage device in the musical contents providingserver and copies the musical contents stored in the first storage area(“pay contents” folder) to the second storage area (“mydocument”/“shared” folder), the musical contents providing serverperforms a charging process in accordance with that copyingmanipulation. Therefore, purchase of the musical contents and thecharging process for that can be performed in a very effective way.

According to the present invention, the musical contents providingserver transmits display data of the musical contents being appropriateto the accessing to the contents providing server to the electronicmusical device in order not to transmit the musical contents beinginappropriate to or unnecessary for the accessing electronic musicaldevice. Therefore, the user of the electronic musical device may not beconfused.

According to the present invention, when a newly purchased musicalcontents is stored in the storage area (“my document”, “shared” folder)corresponding to the user, the musical contents providing serverperforms the charging process for that and discounts a server usage feeat a mean time. Therefore, not only the charging process can beperformed easily, but also the process for the discount service of theserver usage fee can be performed effectively.

According to the present invention, the musical contents providingserver detects the amount of the musical contents stored in each storagearea (“my document”, “shared” folder) corresponding to the user, and theserver usage fee is decided according to the detected amount of themusical contents. Therefore, an appropriate service processes inaccordance with the usage conditions of the contents storage device ofthe server side can be performed effectively. Also as above, because achange of the capacity of storage area can be contracted, the necessarymusical contents can be stored at a necessary storage cost.

According to the present invention, when a phrase is instructed as asearch condition from the electronic musical device side, a searchingservice wherein a list of the musical contents is transmitted to theelectronic musical device as the display data, the searched musicalcontents being stored in the contents storage device and including aphrase matched or similar to the phrase. Therefore, the musical contentscorresponding to the desired phrase can be searched from the abundantmusical contents stored in the server from a point of view differentfrom a classification of the musical contents on the server, and theconvenience of using the musical contents is improved.

According to the present invention, the musical contents that the usercan purchase and the musical contents that the user purchased arerespectively stored in the first and the second storage areacorresponding to the usage types (the “pay contents” folder and the “mydocument”/“shared” folders), therefore, in the searching service, themusical contents can be extracted by including the usage type of themusical contents in the search condition. Also, the musical contents maybe stored by categorizing the types of the musical contents (e.g., SMF,a ringer melody, a score, etc.), and thereby, in the searching service,the musical contents can be extracted by including the category of themusical contents in the search condition. Therefore, convenience ofusing the musical contents can be improved by searching fast and easilyfrom the abundant musical contents stored in the server.

According to the present invention, after turning on the electronicmusical device, in accordance with that, the information stored in thestorage areas (“my document” and “shared” folders) corresponding to theuser in the contents providing server is displayed as being ready to bemanipulated. Therefore, the user can handle the musical contents storedin the contents providing server as it is stored in the electronicmusical device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a whole musical contentsstorage system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware structure of the electronicmusical device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a folder structure of the storage device inthe contents providing server computer according to the embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen in theelectronic musical device according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of a display screen in theelectronic musical device according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a part of a flow chart showing a main process of the musicalcontents storage system according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is other part of a flow chart showing a main process of themusical contents storage system according to the embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a reproducing/editing process (terminalside) and a file transmitting/receiving process (server side) accordingto the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing a process for purchasing contentsaccording to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a capacity changing process of the “mydocument” folder according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a process for contents searchingaccording to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing a process for coauthoring according tothe embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is other part of a flow chart showing a process for coauthoringaccording to the embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a whole musical contentsstorage system according to one embodiment of the present invention. Inthis example, the system is consisted of a plurality of electronicmusical devices 11 to 1 n and a server computer (contents providingserver), each of which is connected to communicate with each other via acommunication network 3 such as the Internet, etc. The electronicmusical devices 11 to 1 n (an individual electronic musical device maybe represented by reference symbols such as “1”, “1 a” or “1 b”) areinformation process devices, each having a communication interface,called as “musical information using terminals”. The electronic musicaldevice may be an electronic device specialized in music, a personalcomputer (PC) that can handle with musical information, a mobilecommunication terminal such as a cellular phone, a communication karaokesystem, a music game device, etc.

The musical contents storage system according to the embodiment of thepresent invention will be explained briefly with reference to FIG. 1.The server computer 2 and the plurality of the electronic musical device11 to 1 n are connected to communicate via the communication network 3.In the contents storage device of the server computer 2, musicalcontents created or purchased by each user is stored in a storage area(under “my document” or “shared” folder) corresponding to a user of eachelectronic musical device. When one electronic musical device 1 accessesto the contents providing server 2, the musical contents stored in thestorage area corresponding to the user of the electronic musical deviceis read immediately, and the user of the electronic musical device canperform various kinds of operations to the read musical contents, theoperations including confirmation of the profile, editing the title,reproducing, editing (refreshing), deleting, copying, etc. Also, themusical contents edited by one of the operations can be stored in thestorage area corresponding to the user.

The server computer 2 stores the electronic musical information (musicalcontents) such as the MIDI data, the electronic score data, the ringermelody, the karaoke song, etc. used in each of electronic musicaldevices 11 to 1 n. The server computer 2 is a data center, also calledas musical contents providing server, which works as a musical contentsstorage device temporally providing necessary musical information inaccordance with necessity of the user to each of electronic musicaldevices 11 to 1 n. The server computer 2 is not only a musicalinformation storing/providing site, but also can be an offering site oftext information such as news, etc., picture information such as a waitdisplay, etc., a shopping site or an information searching site.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware structure of the electronicmusical device according to the embodiment of the present invention. Inthis example, the musical information using terminal (electronic musicaldevice) 1 such as an electronic musical instrument or a PC has a CPU1A,a read only memory (ROM) 1B, random access memory (RAM) 1C, a externalstorage device 1D, a first detecting circuit 1E, a second detectingcircuit 1F, a displaying circuit 1G, a musical tone generator 1H, aneffecter circuit 1J, a communication interface (communication I/F) 1K, aMIDI interface (MIDI I/F) 1L, etc., and these devices 1A to 1L areconnected with each other via a bus 1M.

The CPU 1A mainly executes various controls including a musicalinformation process and a terminal side musical contents providingprocess for receiving musical information (contents) from the server 1by using a clock signal from a timer 1P in accordance with apredetermined software program. The ROM 1B stores a control programrelated to the terminal side musical contents providing process and datanecessary for the musical information process, etc. beforehand. The RAM1C stores data and parameters necessary for each process and is used asa working area for temporally storing various data, etc. in a process.

The external storage device 1D is consisted of the hard disk drive (HDD)and a device using a mobile storage device such as a compact disk readonly memory (CD-ROM), a flexible disk (FD), a magneto-optical (MO) disk,a digital versatile disk (DVD), a semiconductor memory, or the like. Forexample, they are used for storing various kinds of information used inthe electronic musical device 1 and also can store various programsrelated to the contents providing from the server 1.

The first detecting circuit (panel operation detecting circuit) 1Edetects the contents of the setting-up/controlling operation by a panelswitch 1Q such as a switch connected to this or the like and imports itin the electric musical device 1. The panel switch 1Q is the switchinputting various kinds of information for setting up an operationstatus and communicating with the server computer 2. When the electronicmusical device 1 is the electronic device specialized in music, variousswitches on the operating panel are used. And when the electronicmusical device 1 is the PC, a keyboard and a pointing device such as amouse or the like are used.

The second detecting circuit (musical performance detecting circuit) 1Fdetects musical performance by a musical performance switch 1R such as amusical keyboard connected to this to input it in the electronic musicaldevice 1. The musical performance switch 1R is the musical performanceswitch for inputting musical performance information according to themusical performance operation of the user. The switch specialized inmusical performance such as the musical keyboard or the like is used inthe case of the electronic device specialized in music such as theelectronic musical instrument, and a designated key on the keyboard isassigned for musical performance operation at the time of musicalperformance mode in the case of the PC.

The displaying circuit 1G controls displaying contents of a displayingdevice 1S connected to this according to the instruction from the CPU1A, and the displaying device 1S has a display and various indicators.

The musical tone generator 1H is connected to the effecter circuit 1Jincluding the DSP, and the effecter circuit 1J is connected to the soundsystem 1T including a D/A converter, an amp and a speaker. A musicaltone generating unit that generates a musical tone in accordance withmusical information by the user's performance or received from theexternal device is formed of the musical tone generators 1H, 1J and 1T.

The communication I/F 1K connects the electronic musical device 1 (1 a)to communicate with the server computer 2 and other electronic musicaldevice (1 b). For example, information provided from the server computer1 can be stored temporarily in the RAM 1C via the communication network3. Also, the MIDI I/F 1L connects to other electronic musical device 4that can handle with MIDI-type musical information, and the MIDI musicalinformation can be transferred by that.

Further, a hardware such as a mobile communication terminal or acommunication karaoke system can be formed to use the musicalinformation by communicating with the server 2 similar to that in FIG. 2although it is not shown in a drawing. For example, in the case of themobile communication terminal (the mobile musical information usingterminal) such as a cellular phone, in additions to the default hardwarestructure of the mobile communication terminal such as a radiotransmitting/receiving circuit including an antenna and a voiceinput/output device and a voice transmitting/receiving process includinga microphone and a voice speaker (a receiver), following structures maybe included: a data processing circuit that enables to use the musicalinformation by communicating the server 2; a musical tone generatingunit including a musical tone generator and a loud speaker for a musicaltone (a sounder) for reproducing a ringer melody with a melody and akaraoke song; and an interface for transmitting and receiving variousdata and programs to/from other information device.

The server computer 2 has almost the same hardware structure as thehardware structure shown in FIG. 2. Especially, many musical informationfiles (contents) such as the MIDI data, the electronic score data, theringer melody and the karaoke song or the like are stored, andinformation is transferred to many electronic musical devices 11 to in.Therefore, an exclusive server machine which has a large capacityexternal storage device (HDD) and a fast CPU will be preferable;however, the musical performance switch or the second detecting circuit,the musical tone generator formed in the musical tone generator or thesound system and the MIDI I/F or the like are not necessary.

By the structures described above, the server computer 2 executesvarious controls, the server side musical contents providing processrelated to the storage and offering of the musical information andcommunicate with the electronic musical devices 11 to 1 n via thecommunication I/F and the communication network 3 in accordance with thepredetermined software program as similar to FIG. 2 mainly by the CPU.Many musical contents are arranged into a tree structure and stored withbeing classified by the usage types or categories because musicalcontents is provided to many electronic musical devices 11 to 1 n in theexternal storage device of the server computer 2. For example, in thecase of the mobile communication terminal (the mobile musicalinformation using terminal) such as a cellular phone, in addition to thedefault hardware structure of the mobile communication terminal such asa radio transmitting/receiving circuit including an antenna and a voiceinput/output device and a voice transmitting/receiving process includinga microphone and a voice speaker (a receiver), following structures maybe included: a data processing circuit that enables to use the musicalinformation by communicating the server 2; a musical tone generatingunit including a musical tone generator and a loud speaker for a musicaltone (a sounder) for reproducing a ringer melody with a melody and akaraoke song; and an interface for transmitting and receiving variousdata and programs to/from other information device.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, when one of theelectronic musical devices 11 to 1 n accesses to the server computer 2,it can immediately receive a musical information file (musical contents)from the storage device of the server computer 2. FIG. 3 is a schematicdiagram showing a folder structure of the musical contents in thestorage device of the server computer according to the embodiment of thepresent invention.

Musical contents available for the plurality of the electronic musicaldevices 11 to 1 n are stored, as shown in FIG. 3, in the musicalcontents root folder (hereinafter called “root” folder) of the storagedevice in the server computer 2. In a second layer just below themusical contents root folder are a pay contents folder, a plurality (thenumber of j that is greater than the number of n) of “my document”folders such as “my document 1”, “my document 2”, etc., each of whichcan be used individually by each of the users of the plurality (thenumber of n) of the electronic musical device 11 to 1 n, and a plurality(the number of k) of “shared” folders such as “shared 1”, “shared 2”,etc., each of which can be used by the users of the plurality (thenumber of n) of the electronic musical devices 11 to 1 n who are in asharing relations. Each “shared” folder is a folder shared by the usersof the plurality of the electronic musical devices belonging to onegroup. Each user can participate in a group at the time of thelater-described user registration or anytime after the use registration.

Moreover, in a third layer below the “pay contents” folder, plurality offolders classified into the categories such as a SMF, the ringer melody,the karaoke, an electronic organ, an electronic piano, the electronicscore, sampling waves, accompaniment styles and tone color parameters,etc. are stored in each type of musical information. Also, in folderssuch as other my document folder and shared folder in the same layer asthe “pay contents” folder, similar classified folders are stored (notshown in the drawing).

The plurality of musical information files which belong to thecategories of the musical information are stored under these classifiedfolders as a fourth layer (file storing layer). For example, a SMF(Standard MIDI File) type standard musical information file is stored inthe “SMF” folder, various ringer melody song information is stored inthe “ringer melody” file, karaoke song information is stored in the“karaoke” folder and musical information specialized in the electronicorgan and the electronic piano are stored in the “electronic organ” and“electronic piano” folders.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, when one useraccesses to the server computer from an electronic musical device, anaccessible folder is displayed on the display of the electronic musicaldevice corresponding to that. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example ofa display screen in the electronic musical device according to theembodiment of the present invention.

When one user accesses to the contents providing server 2 from oneelectronic musical device, icons of the “pay contents” folder and the“my document” and “shared” folders which are usable my document folderand shared folder in the electronic musical device is displayed in alist. When icons representing the “pay contents” folder and the “mydocument” folder are operated (double clicked) sequentially to open, forexample, a “pay contents” window and a “my document” window that showlists of third layer folders below the “pay contents” folder and the “mydocument” folder are displayed on the display 1S shown in FIG. 4.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the musicalinformation file is purchased by operating the folder icons displayed onthe display screen of the electronic musical device and copying themusical information file (musical contents) from the “pay contents”folder to the “my document” folder. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing anexample of the display screen in the electronic musical device in thiscase.

On the display screen in FIG. 4, for example, when the “SMF” folder iconin the “pay contents” window “SMF” folder icon in the “my document”window are manipulated (double click), as shown in FIG. 5, a “paycontents-SMF” window and a “my document-SMF” window are displayed on thedisplay 1S. In the drawing, icons or texts representing a large numberof the SMF musical information files stored in the “SMF” folder in the“pay contents” folder are listed on the “pay contents-SMF” window (sixof a multiplicity of them are displayed in FIG. 5). On the other hand,the “my document-SMF” window is blank, and no musical information filestored in the “SMF” folder in the “my document” folder is displayed. Adisplay of the property of a title, a lyrics writer, a composer, and anartist or the like of each content may be performed.

As shown in the drawing, an icon representing desired contents (forexample “FFFF.mid”) is pointed from the “pay contents-SMF” window, andcopying operation such as drag and drop to the “my document-SMF” windowis performed. Then the musical information file is copied from the “paycontents” folder to the “my document” folder and can be purchased bythis process. Also, a charging process is executed at this time.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are flow charts showing a main process of the musicalcontents storage system according to the embodiment of the presentinvention. This main process is called as a “musical contents providingprocess”. And a process on the electronic musical device will be calledas a “terminal side musical contents providing process” or a “terminalside main process”, and a process on the server computer will be calledas a “server side contents providing process” or a “server side mainprocess”.

On the electronic musical device side, after turning a power source ofthe device on and booting a terminal side musical contents providingprocess program (Step E2), first, an electronic musical device ID of theelectronic musical device, a user ID and a password of the user usingthe electronic musical device 1, and the inputted electronic musicaldevice ID, user ID and password are sent to the server computer.

The electronic musical device ID is a unique identifier provided to eachelectronic musical device by default, and it is embedded in the ROM 1Bor the like when the device is manufactured and is input automatically.Also, it can be embedded in the RAM 1C or the like after manufacturing.For example, in the case that a user registration is performed to themanufacturer when the electronic musical device 1 is purchased, anautomatic input of the electronic musical device ID at a time that theelectronic musical device ID is sent from the manufacturer may set bythe user. A device type identifier corresponding to a device type or afunction of the electronic musical device 1 may be preferably includedin the electronic musical device ID.

Also, setting the user ID and the password in advance is preferable. Forexample, the user accesses to the server computer 2 from the electronicmusical device (electronic musical instrument and PC etc.) in advanceand makes a user registration to the musical contents storage service toobtain a user ID and a password. Once user ID and password is input,this input can be omitted after the second accesses.

A process such as a user authorization or the like is executed in theserver computer 2. That is, the user authorization is executed based onthe electronic musical device ID, the user ID and the password sent fromthe electronic musical device. Once the authorization completed, theserver computer 2 permits an access to the “my document” folder and the“shared” folder corresponding to the electronic musical device (StepS1). Each folder corresponding to the electronic musical device 1 isregistered (assigned) as a usable folder in the server computer 2 at thetime of the above-described registration. Next, the display data of theaccess permitted folders and the pay folder is sent to the electronicmusical device 1 (Step S2).

According to the above, in the electronic musical device 1, a windowdisplay related to the usable folder that is permitted to access to theelectronic musical device is displayed in the displaying device 1S basedon the display data sent from the server computer (Step E3), and afolder operation by the user comes to be validated. And then, a folderoperation detecting process to detect the folder operation by the useris executed (Step E4). When the folder operation is detected in thefolder operation detecting process, a “folder operation” command is sentto the server computer 2 (Step E5).

When the server computer 2 receives the “folder operation” command, itexecutes a process corresponding to the command to transmit thedisplayed data obtained by the process to the electronic musical device1 (Step S3). The folder operations include “open”, “close”, “create”,“delete”, and “copy” etc. For example, in the case of the “open”operation, the server computer 2 transmits the folder in the layer thatis just under the folder executed the “open” operation or the file listas a display data to the electronic musical device.

The accessible folder for the electronic musical device is constructedto select a folder suitable for a device type or function of theelectronic musical device from the classified folders in the “mydocument” folder by using a device type identifier included in theelectronic musical device ID. For example, an “electronic score” folderis possible to display for the electronic musical device that candisplay a score, and the “electronic score” folder is not displayed forthe electronic musical device that cannot display a score. Therefore,the user can be prevented from confusion. Also, the “shared” folder andthe “pay contents” folders are constructed to select a classified folderproviding to the electronic musical device 1 by using the device typeidentifier. For the folders below the “pay contents” folder, only “open”and “close” operations are possible but others like “create”, etc.cannot be operated.

A process result corresponding to the “folder operation” command isdisplayed in the electronic musical device 1 (FIG. 7: Step E6). Forexample, in the “open” operation of the “pay contents” and the “mydocument” folders in the left in FIG. 4, the folders below each folderare listed on the “pay contents” and “my document” window as the rightin FIG. 4. Also, in the “open” operation of the folder (for example“SMF”) in the lowest folders (the third layer in FIG. 3), the musicalinformation files stored in the folder are displayed.

When a display (Step E6) corresponding to the “folder operation” commandis displayed, or when a folder operation is not detected by the folderoperation detecting process (E4: NO), the musical information file isdisplayed on the display device 1S of the electronic musical device andthere is possibility for the file operation by the user. Then a fileoperation detecting process to detect the file operation by the user isexecuted (Step E7). When the file operation is detected in the fileoperation detecting process, a “file operation” command is sent to theserver computer 2 (E8).

When the server computer 2 receives the “file operation” command, itexecutes a process corresponding to this command and transmits a displaydata obtained by the process to the electronic musical device 1 (FIG. 7:Step S4). “File operation” may be “create”, “delete”, “copy”, etc. Forexample, in the case of the “create” operation, new file is created totransmit the icon as a display data to the electronic musical device. Inthe file in the pay folders, only “copy” operation is possible, but“create” operation cannot be executed. After executing an “otherprocess” (Step S5), the process will be returned to the standby state toreceive an instruction from the electronic musical device such as anaccess and a command.

On the other hand, a process result corresponding to the “fileoperation” command is displayed in the electronic musical device 1 basedon the sent display data (Step E9). After this displaying, or when thefile operation is not detected in the file operation detecting process(Step E7: NO), an “other process” is executed. If turning off the poweris not instructed, the electronic musical device returns to the folderoperation detecting process (Step E4) to repeat the “folder operation”detecting (Step E4) through the “other process” (Step E10) until turningoff the power is instructed. When turning off the power is instructed,this terminal side musical contents providing process is completed.

“Other process” may be a process executed between the electronic musicaldevice 1 and the server computer 2 cooperatively with each other, suchas the “reproducing/editing” and the “file transmitting/receiving”process, a “contents purchasing” process, a “contents detecting”process, “coauthoring” process, etc. and a process executed by theserver computer 2 itself such as a “my document capacity changing”process or the like.

One user can access to the server computer 2 from a plurality of theelectronic musical devices 1 a and 1 b. In this case, the same user IDand password may be input. In each of the electronic musical devices 1 aand 1 b used by the user, as described above, a visible classifiedfolder will be changed according to the device type identifier containedin the electronic musical device ID.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, musicalinformation file (musical contents) stored in the server computer can beused for reproducing and editing on the electronic musical device, andthe edited musical information file can be stored in the server computeragain. FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a reproducing/editing process (aterminal electronic musical device side) that enable to thesereproducing, editing and storage and a file transmitting/receivingprocess (server side) according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

A list of musical information files under the “my document” or the“shared” folder is displayed on the display device 1S in the electronicmusical device 1 based on the displayed data sent from the servercomputer according to above-described “folder operation” and “fileoperation”. When there is a musical information file that the user wantsto reproduce or edit inside the folders, the user indicates/selects thefile (Step E21) to execute an operation to request a file transmission.Then the electronic musical device transmits a “file transmissionrequest” to the server computer 1 (Step E22).

The server computer 1 responds to the “file transmission request” fromthe electronic musical device 1 to transmit the requested musicalinformation file to the electronic musical device 1 (Step S21). Theelectronic musical device 1 receives the file and stores in the RAM1C(Step E23). Also, a file selection window for selecting a way of usingthe file (for example, a window wherein selecting switches such as“reproduce”, “edit”, “cancel” etc. are configured) is displayed on thedisplay 1S. Then a reproducing operation detecting process to detectwhether the “reproduce” of the file is selected or not is executed (StepE24).

When the operation that selects the “reproduce” of the file is detectedin the reproducing operation detecting process, the musical informationfile stored in the RAM1C is reproduced on the electronic musical device1 (Step E25). For example, according to the file, a musical tonecorresponding to the musical tone generators 1H, 1J and 1T is generated,or a score corresponding to the file is displayed on the display 1S.

After the reproducing process of the musical information file (StepE25), or when the “reproduce” operation is not detected in thereproducing operation detecting process (Step E24: NO), an editingoperation detecting process to detect whether the “edit” of the file isselected or not is executed (Step E26). When the “edit” selectingoperation is detected in the editing operation detecting process, themusical information file stored in the RAM 1C will be possible to beedited. Then it can be edited by the operation by the user (Step E27).

When the user terminates the editing operation and indicates editingtermination, a selection window for selecting whether the edited musicalinformation file (the edited file) is stored or not is displayed on thedisplay 1S of the electronic musical device 1. Then, a storing operationdetecting process to detect whether “store” of the edited file isselected or not is executed (Step E28). When the “store” selection isdetected in the storing operation detecting process, the electronicmusical device 1 transmits the edited file to the server computer 2(Step E29).

After transmitting the edited file (Step E29), when the “edit” selectionis not detected in the editing operation detecting process (Step E26:NO), or the “store” selection is not detected in the storing operationdetecting process (Step E28: NO), musical information file stored in theRAM1C is deleted compulsory (Step E30). Then the process will bereturned to the terminal side main process (FIG. 7: Step E11).

On the other hand, when the server computer 2 receives the edited file,it executes a process to store (newly written or overwritten) thereceived edited file in the “my document” or the “shared” foldercorresponding to it. Then the process is returned to the server sidemain process (FIG. 7: “return”).

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the desiredmusical information file can be purchased by the simple operation justcopying the musical information file (musical contents) stored in the“pay contents” folder in the server computer to the “my document” foldercorresponding to the electronic musical device. FIG. 9 is a flow chartshowing a “contents purchasing” process for purchasing these files.

On the displaying device 1S of the electronic musical device 1, based ondisplay data transmitted from the server computer 2 in accordance withthe above-described “folder operation” and “file operation”, forexample, as shown in the left side of FIG. 5, a list of the musicalinformation files under the “pay contents” folder can be displayed in awindow, and those under the “my document 2 folder can also be displayedin a window as shown in the right side of FIG. 5.

When there is a musical information file that the user wants to purchasein the “pay contents”, the user of the electronic musical device 1indicates/selects an icon of the file displayed in the “pay contents”window (Step E41) and executes an copying operation (drag and drop) ofthis icon to the “my document” window (Step E42). Then the electronicmusical device 1 transmits the operation contents to the file with the“contents purchasing instruction” to the server computer 1 (Step E43).After that, the process returns to the terminal side main process (FIG.7).

When the server computer 2 receives the “contents purchasinginstruction” from the electronic musical device 1, a charging processcorresponding to the purchased musical information file is executed tothe user performed the “contents purchasing instruction” (Step S41). Inthe charging process, the usage period of the purchased musicalinformation file (contents) may be selected by the user, and the usagefee may be varied depending on the usage period. For example, a rangesuch as only one time use, a fixed period (e.g., one month etc.), oreternal use may be decided, and the fee will be decided in accordancewith the decided range. In that case, the purchased file with thelimited usage period will be deleted from the “my document” folder afterthe usage period elapsed. Also, the usage fee may preferably bepresented to the user in advance such as when the list in the left ofthe FIG. 5 is displayed or when the icon is selected in the Step E41.

Then the server computer 2 executes a discount process of a server usagefee according to the contents purchase (Step S42). That is, when the paycontents (musical information file in the “pay contents” folder) ispurchased, the server usage fee is discounted. In that case, the serverusage fee may be discounted eternally or during the fixed period fromthe time of the purchase.

After the discount process of the server usage fee, the purchased filein the “pay contents” folder is copied based on the operation to themusical information file instructed the “contents purchasinginstruction” in the electronic musical device, and the copied file isstored in the “my document” folder corresponding to the user (Step S42).Then the process returns to the server side music server side mainprocess (FIG. 7).

In the embodiment of the present invention, a storage amount of the “mydocument” folder can be changed automatically according to the amount ofinformation of the musical information file stored in the “my document”folder. FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a “my document capacity change”process to change capacity of the “my document” folder. The process flowis booted every time a file is executed in the “my document” folder ofthe server computer 2.

First, the server computer 2 executes a capacity over judging process(Step S51) for judging whether the storage amount of the “my document”folder is over the currently set limit of the storage capacity(hereinafter called “the storage capacity limit”) or not by the fileoperations such as the newly write or over write (Step S22) or copy(Step S43) of the musical information file performed to each “mydocument” folder.

When the capacity over judging process judges the storage amount is overthe storage capacity limit, the storage capacity limit set to the “mydocument” folder is increased (Step S52), a increase process of theusage fee to increase the server usage fee corresponding to theincreased storage capacity limit (Step S53).

The server computer 2 executes an under capacity judging process (StepS54) for judging whether the storage amount of the “my document” folderis below the storage capacity limit (upper limit) at the predeterminedvalue by the file operations such as rewrite (Step S22) or delete (e.g.,based on the “delete” operation) of the musical information file to each“my document” folder after the usage fee increase process (Step S52) orwhen the storage capacity over judging process judges the storage amountis not over the storage capacity limit (Step S51: NO).

When the under capacity judging process (Step S54) judges the storageamount is below the storage capacity limit at the predetermined value,the storage capacity set to the “my document” folder is decreased (StepS55), and an usage fee discount process (Step S56) to discount theserver usage fee corresponding to the decreased storage capacity limitis executed. Then the process returns to the server side main process(FIG. 7) after the usage fee discount process (Step S56) or when theunder capacity judging process judges the detected storage amount is notbelow the current storage capacity limit at the predetermined value(Step S54: NO).

The server (“my document” folder) usage fee is decided beforehand inaccordance with some grades of capacities, for example, one price forthe storage capacity (from 0 MB) to 5 MB, another price for that (from 5MB) to 10 MB, and so on. When the increased or decreased storagecapacity limit is re-decided (Steps S52, S55), the server usage fee willbe increased or decreased in accordance with the increase or decrease ofthe storage capacity limit (Steps S53, S56). Further, when the serverusage fee is increased or decreased, the server computer 2 may ask theuser whether the increase (decrease) of the server usage fee is admittedor not. Also, in the case of the “shared” folder, the server usage feeis increased or decreased as same as the process described the above(each user's share of the server usage fee is defined by the specialcontract).

According to the embodiment of the present invention, when a searchcondition is set at the electronic musical device, the server extractsthe musical information file (contents) matched to the search conditionand can notify the search result to the electronic musical device. FIG.11 is a flow chart showing the “contents searching” process to searchthe file.

In this flow chart, first, a searching target is designated (Step E61)by the contents types (SMF, the ringer melody, etc.) and the foldertypes (pay contents, my document, etc.). Next, in order to make afurther proper search possible in a different view from that of thestructure of the folders to be searched, for example, a phrase (amusical performance) for the search is input (Step E62). Then asearching command is sent with the contents type, the folder type andthe phrase to the server computer 2 from the electronic musical device 1(Step E63).

The server computer 2 received the searching command searches matched orsimilar contents to the input phrase from the contents in the designatedtarget by the received contents type or folder type, and extractscorresponded contents (Step S61). When a searching target, for example,“contents type=an electronic score”, “folder type=pay contents and mydocument” is instructed, the contents matched to the input phrase isextracted from electronic score files in the “pay contents” folder andthe “my document” folder.

After the server computer 2 forms the extracted contents list andtransmits as a display data (Step S62), the process returns to theserver side main process (FIG. 7). After the contents list based on thereceived display data is displayed on the display 1S (Step E64) in theelectronic musical device 1, the process returns to the server side mainprocess (FIG. 7).

If the extracted contents is in the “pay contents” folder, it can bepurchased. And if it is in the “my document” or the “shared” folder, itcan be used.

This contents search process is preferably constructed to search notonly perfectly matched contents but also contents different from theinput phrase, key or some musical notes. By that, a user with an unsurememory and a user who does not perform the phrase very well can find theaimed contents.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, musicalinformation file (contents) in the “shared” folder of the servercomputer is used and edited among the plurality of the electronicmusical devices. FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 are flow charts showing these“coauthor” processes that realize musical information editing among theplurality of the electronic musical devices.

This flow chart is started by selecting one musical information file inthe “shared” folder at one electronic musical device (electronic musicaldevice 1 a) (Step E71) and requesting to the server computer 2,transmission of the selected file (Step E72). For responding to that,the requested file is transmitted (Step S71) from the server computer 2,and the electronic musical device 1 a stores the received file from theserver computer 2 in the RAM 1C (Step E73).

The received musical information file is judged whether there is a trackbeing edited by other user or not (Step E74) before editing. When thereis a track being edited by other user, a track (or tracks) other thanthe track edited by other user will be set to be editable (Step E75),and the process proceeds to the editing steps (Steps E76 to E81). Whenthere is no track being edited by other user, the process proceeds tothe editing steps (Steps E76 to E81) without imposing any restrictionson the target track for editing operation.

When the process proceeds to the editing stage, the electronic musicaldevice 1 executes an editing instruction detecting process that detectseither of an “edit” or a “cancel” switch is manipulated (Step E76). Inthis editing instruction detecting process, when the process detectsthat starting of the editing operation is instructed by manipulation ofthe “edit” switch, the electronic musical device 1 a enters into an editmode. Then, when the user selects a track to be edited, an editabilityjudging process to judge whether the track is an editable track or not(Step E77).

When the track is judged as the editable track in the editable trackjudging process, the electronic musical device 1 a notifies that thetrack is under the editing operation to the server computer 2 (FIG. 13:Step E78). Also, the track can be edited by the user in the electronicmusical device 1 a (Step E79). On the other hand, the server computer 2that received the notice from the electronic musical device 1 a notifiesto other user using other electronic musical device 1 b (“1 b”represents the electronic musical device other than the electronicmusical device 1 a) editing the same file that the predetermined trackof the file is being edited by the user of the electronic musical device1 a (FIG. 13: Step S72).

When the user instructs the end of the editing operation in theelectronic musical device 1 a, an end instruction display to make theuser select whether the track edited musical information file (theedited file) is stored or not is displayed on the display 1S. Then anend operation detecting process to detects whether the “store” of theedited file is selected or not (Step E80). When the “store” is detectedin the end operation detecting process, the electronic musical device 1a transmits the notice of the end of the editing operation with theedited file to the server computer 2 (Step E81). On the other hand, the“store” is not detected, a cancellation of the noticed “under theediting operation” (E78) is notified to the server computer 2 (StepE82).

Then, after transmitting the comment of the end of the editing processand the edited file (Step E81), when the selection of the “edit” is notdetected in the editing instruction operation detecting process (StepE76: NO), when the editability judging process judges that the track isnot the editable track (Step E77: NO), or after notifying cancellationof the editing operation (Step E82), the musical information file storedin the RAM1C is deleted compulsory. Then the process returns to theterminal side main process (FIG. 7: Step E11).

On the other hand, when the server computer 2 receives the notice tocancel the “editing operation” (Step E82), the server computer 2notifies the reception of the canceling notice to the electronic musicaldevice 1 b used by the other user (Step S73). Also, when the comment ofthe end of the editing process and the edited file (Step E81) isreceived, a process to store the received edited file in the “shared”folder (refresh by over write) is executed. At the same time, the end ofthe editing operation of the electronic musical device 1 a is notifiedand the edited file (the file refreshed by over write) is transmitted tothe electronic musical device 1 b of other user (Step S74). Then theprocess returns to the server side main process (FIG. 7). It ispreferable to over write and transmit only the data in the edited trackin the above refreshing by over write process and the transmittingprocess to other electronic musical device 1 b.

For responding to the above, other electronic musical device 1 breceives the musical information file (Steps E81, S74) edited in theelectronic musical device 1 a (FIG. 12: Step E73), and refreshes thefile in the RAM1C. Then, along with the flow chart (Steps E73 to E83)shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, similar to the steps explained above, theediting operation can be performed based on the received new musicalinformation file. It is preferable to refresh only the track edited inthe electronic musical device 1 a.

Although whether the track being edited by other user (the user of, forexample, the electronic musical device 1 b) is included in the receivedmusical information is judged before the editing operation in theelectronic musical device 1 a (Step E74) in the above-described flowchart, a track which is started to be edited by other electronic musicaldevice 1 b while one user is editing other track can be prohibited to beedited by said one user upon the notification of the start of theediting operation by the other electronic musical device 1 b.

Also, the process can edit not only a whole track but also a part of thetrack. In that case, a range of the track is designated to be “under theediting operation”.

According to the above-described embodiment, each electronic musicaldevice has an electronic musical device ID, and the server computerrefers the electronic musical device ID upon the authorization. That is,the user cannot be authorized by only the user ID and password.Therefore, the illegally obtained user ID and password cannot be used,and the musical contents storage system with higher security can beconstructed. However, certain level of the security can be accomplishedwith the user ID and password, therefore the electronic musical deviceID may be omitted. Also, the device type identifier may not be containedin the electronic musical device ID and may be notified independently tothe server computer.

The electronic musical device may not be included a function to connectto the communication network directly. In that case, first, theelectronic musical device may be connected to other personal computerand mobile information terminal. Then it may be connected to thecommunication network via the personal computer and the mobileinformation terminal.

The present invention has been described in connection with thepreferred embodiments. The invention is not limited only to the aboveembodiments. It is apparent that various modifications, improvements,combinations, and the like can be made by those skilled in the art.

1. A musical contents system, comprising: a contents providing servercomprising a connecting unit that connects to a communication network,and a contents storage unit that stores musical contents in a storagearea corresponding to a user of an electronic musical device; and anelectronic musical device comprising a connecting unit that connects tothe contents providing server via the communication network, anaccessing unit that accesses to the contents storage unit via thecommunication network, and a contents operating unit that performs anoperation to the musical contents stored in the contents storage areacorresponding to the user.
 2. A musical contents providing systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the contents operating unit edits themusical contents or create new musical contents, the connecting unit ofthe electronic musical device transmits the edited or created musicalcontents to the contents providing server, and the contents storage unitstores the transmitted musical contents in the storage are correspondingto the user of the electronic musical device.
 3. A musical contentsproviding system according to claim 1, wherein the connecting unit ofthe electronic musical device transmits a user identifier to thecontents providing server, and the contents providing server furthercomprises an access authorization unit that authorizes the access to thecontents storage unit by confirming the user identifier transmitted fromthe electronic musical device.
 4. A musical contents system, comprising:a contents providing server comprising a connecting unit that connectsto a communication network, and a contents storage unit that storesmusical contents in a storage area corresponding to a group consisted ofusers of a plurality of electronic musical devices; and a plurality ofelectronic musical devices, each electronic musical device comprising aconnecting unit that connects to the contents providing server via thecommunication network, an accessing unit that accesses to the contentsstorage unit via the communication network, and a contents operatingunit that performs an operation to the musical contents stored in thecontents storage area corresponding to a group to which a user belongs.5. The musical content system according to claim 4, wherein the contentstorage unit of the content providing server further comprises a storagearea which each user of the plurality of the electronic music devicescan use personally.